Should We Really Forget About Keywords?

Keywords are a vital part of the job search process thanks to applicant tracking systems that attempt to rank candidates based on their qualifications. The difficulty with this software is that many candidates know how to put the right keywords into a resume. Instead, try a human-voiced resume combined with a pain letter to stand out from the pack.

Liz Ryan, of Human Workplace and a regular contributor to Forbes magazine, writes that job seekers should use two tactics to land an interview that have nothing to do with getting past an applicant tracking system. The reason is that too many resumes land at the top of the pile for a human to read them all, so some very well-qualified people may never get a chance to have an interview depending on how the hiring manager vets potential employees. Therefore, you need a different way to catch someone's attention.

Address the hiring manager or recruiter directly with a pain letter as a way to introduce yourself. Attach your human-voiced resume to the letter as a way to tell your story. Here's how it works.

Pain Letter

A pain letter shows how you can solve an employer's problem. This takes a bit of research, but you should start with one of your top picks. Find out one major dilemma facing the company, whether it's rapid growth, market stagnation or a bad news story. Try to see a problem through an employer's eyes. Empathize with the employer and show how your skills translate to solving a major problem. In essence, you can alleviate the company's pain.

Human-Voiced Resume

The pain letter is the appetizer. The meat of your story comes from a human-voiced resume that uses complete sentences and gets rid of standard, boilerplate terms. You also write full paragraphs underneath a few headings rather than ordinary bullet points.

Under the Career Summary section, three to four sentences tell your main selling points. What do you do for a living? How have past employers let you expand your horizons within your career? Why are you applying for the position in front of you? Your human-voiced resume answers these questions succinctly.

Each Employer

Use your past employers to tell more details about your experiences. Bullet points set these apart, but each one is at least one or two complete sentences. Instead of saying, "Created reports ahead of major acquisition," say something like, "When my company bought a competitor, I created reports for both parties to understand before the formal merger." The language sounds more natural, less robotic and in your speaking voice.

Write something similar to this for each previous employer. If keywords fit naturally into your resume, feel free to add them. Keywords can also go into your Skills heading, or you can submit two resumes to the potential employer. One gets through the applicant tracker, while another one goes directly to the hiring manager.

Your human-voiced resume stands out from everyone else because you narrate a story. Although keywords are important to get past software used by big companies, it's not the gateway that's most important. Send your best possible resume to a human and see what happens.

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